Harry and Ron had burst into the room just as the snake left James. Ron went forward and pushed Bellatrix back. Harry went to his son and began untying him from the table. James' skin had already gone very cold. Harry knew exactly what was going on, but wasn't sure how to stop it.

"Go, we'll get him," he heard. Hermione and Ginny had appeared behind him. He nodded and left them with James.

"You're too late!" Bellatrix was saying. "It's already done!"

Harry knocked the cauldron over as he walked past. "No, it isn't." A purple-ish potion came out and began melting the floor it fell on. Bellatrix screamed.

"You will not stop the dark lord again!" Bellatrix shrieked.

"Oh, yes, I think I will," Harry said, moving her into a corner. Ron had gone to deal with the other shadow in the corner. "I am getting so bored with fighting him all the time. Why don't you people find someone else to blindly follow?"

"The dark lord is never dead! He will always return!"

"Not as long as I'm around."

The potion on the ground bubbled up again. It began breaking the floor boards. Harry turned to look. Bellatrix hit him with some spell, sending him flying across the room. Before he could get back up, she had apparated. Harry swore at himself for being so stupid and got up.

The potion was destroying everything. It was going to make the whole house collapse. "Ron, we have to go."

"Give me a minute. I'm catching up with an old friend." Harry went over to see what he was talking about. Ron was standing with one foot on top of Peter Pettigrew's neck, his wand pointed at his head.

"Oh, okay then. Never mind."

"I would like to kill him, but the trouble I'd get into… Hermione would never let me live it down. She still nags me about when we drove the car into the willow."

"Plus it would be messy."

"Yeah, that too."

"Just petrify him or something and let's go. Let the ministry clean it up."

Ron was still looking down at Peter. "You know, I've heard Azkaban is so much fun. I remember how fond you were of it last time we were in this situation. You're lucky I've got Harry here to talk me out of it. I'm not anywhere near as nice as he was."

Pettigrew wasn't saying anything. Not that he could have anyway, with Ron's foot on his windpipe. "Ron, really, we need to get away from this potion."

"Alright, alright," Ron said. He stunned Peter and left him there. "Let's go."

The walls of the house began to shake. It was going to come down. Harry pointed to a door in the back of the house. "Run!"

James was lying on the ground still. He guessed that his dad and uncle were in there fighting Bellatrix. There wasn't any noise or lights. How long could it take?

Then, without any warning, the house collapsed. James heard himself screaming. He tried to get up but his mother held him down. "No, James, no…"

"We can't just sit here! They might need help!"

"It collapsed because of that potion. It's not safe."

"We have to help them!"

"No. It will be okay." She held him tightly and stroked his head a bit.

James couldn't help being anxious. After it fell, nothing moved for a long time. He looked around for any sign of life. He wanted to shout out, to see if they would respond.

Hermione got up and went closer to the ruined house. She stood there for a minute, also looking. Nothing moved. She came back to them and shot something into the air. "The ministry will be here to clean this up. I just wish they'd hurry." James knew that she wasn't the only one who wished that.

There was some movement in the trees behind the house. Two figures appeared. They were limping and holding onto each other. Hermione walked straight up to them and slapped the one in the face.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again!"

"Nice to see you too," the slapped figure mumbled back. She grabbed him into her arms tightly.

Harry came limping to Ginny and James. He fell onto the other side of Ginny. She leaned back a bit and held him with her other arm. He leaned against her with his eyes closed, obviously very tired.

"Dad, I -"

"Don't. If you plan on getting yourself killed again, just let us know in advance, okay?"

"But that takes the fun out of it," Ginny said, smiling at them.